


Itching to Win

by Amelia Abernathy (authr2b)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Rating May Change, Relationships Updated as They Begin, Triwizard Tournament, Warnings May Change, past Jean/Armin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-05-03 13:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 20,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5293223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/authr2b/pseuds/Amelia%20Abernathy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Triwizard Tournament has come round once again to Hogwarts. And surprises are arround every corner. For instance, the headmistress of Beauxbatons is no longer a half-giantess. Another surprise comes when a Slytherin is chosen over the current Ackerman student. Yet another comes when Armin falls for a cute german with anger issues, while the Beauxbatons champion is left in the same predicament. </p><p>The greatest surprise is the winner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unexpected Housemate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MarshaDecamiro](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarshaDecamiro/gifts).



> So I wrote a Yumikuri au similar to this one but ever since I've been itching to write one for my OTP. I've finally decided to do the thing and now (and I wish I was kidding) one year after I began planning Triwizard Romance I am publishing another Triwizard AU. 
> 
> But this time instead of being a present for a friend, it's a christmas present for Marsha. Merry Early Christmas.

Levi watched as the group of new first years shuffled nervously down the hall. Older students had their eyes on the old hat that Nanaba had set before the students. Mike strolled along behind them, herding them towards the hat. 

He spotted a cousin of his at the edge of the group. His mother, the headmistress of the school, winked at the little girl. Mikasa blushed furiously and stared at her toes. Kuchel shot him a smile before turning back to watch the children. 

When he had started at Hogwarts she had winked at him as he walked up, and he’d had much the same reaction. Mike pushed his way through the crowd and took his place next to the sorting hat while it sang it's song. 

The mouths of the many muggleborns fell to the floor at the sight of a singing hat. 

Once it was finished Mike cleared his throat and waved a scroll in the air. “Alright pipsqueaks, when I call your name come in up and sit on the stool to be sorted.” They all shifted nervously as he opened it up and looked at it. 

“Ackerman, Mikasa.” The entire safe started and focused on the little Asian girl walking towards the stool. The Ackermans were an old wizarding family that had turned out millions of Aurors. The three Ackermans that sat at the teacher's table had been Aurors before receiving offers to teach at Hogwarts. And with the exception of Kenny, the entire family had been in Gryffindor. 

Mikasa knew this, as well as that She and Kenny were seen as the two black sheep. Kenny because he was a Slytherin, and her for being a halfblood witch. So she was rather relieved when the hat yelled “Gryffindor” before even touching her hat. Levi chuckled, his adopted siblings had gone on about an “Acker-Aura” and this would fuel their theory. 

“Arlert, Armin.” A little blond boy walked up and climbed onto the stool, shaking nervously the whole while. The hat took its own sweet time deciding on his house. Kuchel was about to declare a hatstall when it stirred. 

“SLYTHERIN!” It shouted. Mike picked up the hat as the Slytherin table began cheering. The boy turned and began talking to Mike, shaking harder than before with tears beginning to fall down his cheeks. After a moment the boy trudged over to the table and sat down. 

They went through a few more students before reaching “Bodt, Marco.” A cheerful boy with freckles dusting his cheeks. After a moment the hat declared him to be a Ravenclaw. 

Two students later a burly lad named Reiner strutted forward and was promptly placed in Gryffindor. And just after him a rather pudgy child named Sasha was sorted into Hufflepuff. It was a little while until Levi levi blanched as a tall boy named Bertholt Hoover walked up. He wouldn’t have cared but even at eleven the kid was taller than him. The boy was sent to meet Marco at the Ravenclaw table. 

Just after him was Jean Kirschtein, another child from a prominent wizarding family. He sat down with a smirk on his face. A smirk which was wiped off by the hat declaring him a Slytherin. He stared longingly at the Gryffindor table as he walked past and took a seat next to Armin, whose head was in his hands. 

Just after him was a young girl named Annie that had come from a family of Slytherins, who walked proudly to the table after declaring that she was carrying on the family traditions. she took the seat across from the two sulking boys and began to talk to them. 

They ended with a gangly kid named Connie Springer who was sorted into Hufflepuff. Kuchel stood and said a few words before allowing them all to start their feast. 

A few minutes in Kenny raced over to his sister. 

“The Bloody Baron told me why the Arlert kid is so upset.” He said, and the table went quiet to hear him say, “He’s a fucking muggleborn.” This earned him a few eyerolls and glares- mostly from Mike and his wife Nanaba who were both muggleborns- and Kuchel took a deep breath. 

“Kenny, there’s nothing wrong with the boy being a muggleborn.” 

“In Slytherin there is. The one thing that Salazar insisted on being the defining trait of all his students was that they needed to be of magical blood. He barely tolerated half-bloods, can you imagine how he and most past slytherins must be rolling in their graves knowing there’s a muggleborn in their house?” He asked. Kuchel ran a hand through her hair. 

“Well, make sure the poor child is happy. I can only imagine what he must have heard about Slytherin house from the other first years considering its former reputation.” 

“I’m a teacher, not a babysitter. I did enough of that when you were a kid.” She rolled her eyes as he walked back to his seat and muttered something to one of the teacher nearby. 

 

Armin was dragged along down the hallway towards the dungeon by Jean, who had said “If I gotta put up with this hippogriff crap then you gotta too.” Annie stuck next to them, trying to comfort the two boys by telling them that Slytherin’s gotten so much better since Voldemort’s fall in the nineties. 

But they were suddenly stopped by a short man with black hair and long green robes. 

“Hey,you okay?” he asked with a baritone voice. Armin shook his head. 

“I’m in the wrong house.” he sobbed, “Can’t you fix it?” he asked. Jean stepped forward. 

“You’re the deputy headmaster right? You can fix it!” 

“Sorry, but the sorting hat’s word is final.” 

“You’re trusting the decisions of a stupid talking hat?” Jean demanded. 

“That “stupid” hat can see into your mind, so it knows where you need to go.” Levi sighed. “And either way, most people have a misconception about Slytherin. The hat chooses students for Slytherin because they’re cunning and ambitious. And it obviously has stopped caring about the possession of magical blood. So stop worrying about it. You’ll be fine. My Uncle’s an ass but mom said he’d still be an ass if he had been sorted into gryffindor. And Hange’s amazing once you get to know her.” the boys looked down while Annie smiled triumphantly. 

“Fine.” Armin muttered. Levi ruffled his hair and walked off in a flurry of fabric. 

“I told you it’d be fine.” Annie said. 

“Oh shove it Leonheart. Nobody likes a boaster.” Jean snapped, grabbing Armin’s hand and dragging him away. 

 

Two days later the entire group of first years were plagued by itchy scalps. The teachers didn’t think much of it until one of the muggleborns went to Madame Pomfrey a few days into classes and asked her to check for lice. And when she did she found that the child needed a spell to whisk away all the lice and their eggs. 

Naturally she called in all the first years and found that each and every one of them had caught lice from the sorting ceremony. Everyone turned their eyes to Armin.

True, Mikasa had gone first, but the hat had barely touched her head. but it had been on Armin’s for a solid five minutes. 

However Mikasa and Annie- who both had soft spots for the clumsy little slytherin- made it well known that if anyone dared to ostracize him or curse him then they’d have hell to pay. And with the Ackermans being a family of Aurors and the Leonhearts being famous for their duellers, there wasn’t a student in school that was willing to disobey them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yes, it is very important for Armin to be in slytherin, and very appropriate for him.


	2. Montage of the Good Shit

It was hard for Armin to leave Hogwarts and all his friends. He lived in a muggle community with his grandfather and would have a hard time sending owls to his friends. Thankfully Sasha lived with her muggle father and Connie had muggle parents, so they could both keep up with him. 

the next year was a touch easier on him. He no longer had to deal with other students giving him weird looks for being the only muggleborn Slytherin in existence. every once in awhile someone would call him “Lice King,” since he’d brought lice back to Hogwarts after Christmas break. 

thankfully those that used the nickname were few and far between since he’d made a name as a master Jinxer during his first year, and he was aiming to be in the duelling club now that he was in his second year and allowed to join if he could pass. 

It was that same year that a blushing Jean came up to Armin and asked if he wanted to be Jean’s boyfriend saying “It’s a totally cool thing that all the wizards are doing.” Armin didn’t buy it, but knew that Jean was just doing what he could to convince himself he had a chance. 

Armin took him up on it, and they happily dated for a time. 

It was that same year that the entirety of the seventh year group was taken to Durmstrang for the Triwizard Tournament. 

The winner that year was the Gryffindor and headmistress’s adopted daughter Isabel Magnolia, who went to play for the Holyhead Harpies promplty after leaving school. 

Jean and Armin’s relationship was shaky from the beginning, and they ended up calling it off by the Christmas of their Fourth year. 

The name Lice King had gone away for a time since he’d been free all through his third year and well into the fourth, but it was revived when he came back and accidentally started another outbreak. Though technically it was all Annie’s fault for using his shoulder as a pillow during History of Magic and Arithmancy. 

He wanted to protest that it wasn’t his fault that his hair was a breeding ground, but that of his cousin from whom he caught every last bought. 

By the end of his fifth year he had developed a spell and a potion. The potion was one that would keep him free of lice for two weeks at a time, but was simple enough that he could brew it at home on his grandfather’s stove with no worry. The spell would give lice to anyone that teased him about his vulnerability. 

He made some good money off of Muggleborns and Halfbloods who often had to deal with muggle siblings and cousins that were very prone to bringing them into their home. 

And when Lice King became a reverent term instead of a mean nickname, he began to own it. 

His entire sixth year he tried to convince Jean to keep his eyes on his notes instead of on Mikasa Ackerman, who had finally overcome a rather awkward puberty and called the attention of most of the boys and at least half of the girls. 

He managed to get Jean’s lagging butt to pass all his exams, with no small effort on his and Annie’s part. 

During the farewell feast, Headmistress Ackerman called for attention to herself. she smiled around as everyone stopped talking. 

“It’s been about five years since the last Triwizard Tournament, and since Durmstrang was the last to host the event, we will be next. So next year everyone that is seventeen years of age or older may put their name in the goblet.” this brought cheers from everyone that would turn seventeen by that day. 

they went home, excited by the prospect of getting to meet foreign students.


	3. Lice King Returns

Armin was the first to get on the train, he claimed one of the best compartments and plopped himself down on the seats. His cat mewed angrily from her cage, he stuck his tongue out at her. “Tough it out Nala, I’m not letting you out until we leave the station. Not unless you want to be flown to Hogwarts by owl like fifth year.” She hissed at him and turned her back, but didn’t seem to fuss any more than that. 

Annie poked her head in a moment later. “thought I heard your voice.” she said, dragging her trunk in behind her. “It’s good to see you agian. You excited for the tournament?” she asked. 

He shuddered in reply. “I’m sorry, but not a single thing about that tournament makes me want to join it.” 

“Not even the boatload of galleons we get as a reward?” she asked. he shook his head. “But you don’t have anything to your name! You need something to get on your feet in the wizarding world! and even a hundred galleons would get you a tiny house or something until you could get a job.” 

“My grandfather has money set aside for me. When I decide to leave the muggle world forever we’ll transfer it into Gringotts and they’ll turn it into the appropriate amount of wizarding money.” He said. “We worked it out years ago.” Annie rolled her eyes. 

“If only the kid that spent the first week of school crying because he was in the wrong house could see you now. You really are a Slytherin mate.” 

“I beg to differ.” He said, folding his arms. “I see myself as a Ravenclaw that was a little too ambitious. And I’ll be honest, I’m still rather peeved about not getting put there.” She snorted. 

“Then you’d have to share a room with Marco an Bert. Yeah I think Bert’s sweet but have you see what happens to his clothes under his robes? They get soaked with sweat. You’d have to deal with sweat stink every time you entered the dorm. And Marco does nothing but talk about plants.” 

“You don’t give them- or me- enough credit.” He said, “I can handle the plant talk and can spell the smell away.” 

“Are you forgetting that you created a spell that gave people lice so that they’d stop calling you Lice King?” 

“What does that have to do with anything?” 

“And you sold off your potions for a galleon a pop.” 

“Hey, people pay the equivalent of three galleons for something that doesn’t work half so well. they got a deal.” 

“And you want to be the best dueller in the school, the best herbologist, the best-” 

“What does any of this have to do with me fitting into galleons.” she cocked an eyebrow. 

“Slytherins are cunning and ambitious among our many qualities. You are extremely ambitious, didn’t you say you wanted to be the youngest Minister of Magic? You have a very strategic mind, and you’ve already gone and mapped out what you need to do to get where you want to be. Don’t give me that look, you got pissed cause Jean held you back cause you had to help him study. And you’re cunning, you saw an opportunity with the lice shit to make some money even though you weren’t even using your own stores to make it. you’re a Slytherin through and through. Just like me.” she leaned back with a satisfied smirk. 

Armin cleared his throat. “That reminds me. Did you have anyone in your family named Evelyn?” Annie bit her lip and thought about it for a moment. 

“I might could have. Why?” 

“Because my grandfather and I were talking about my parents and he said that he didn’t know much about my mother. And among the things he told me he mentioned her last name was Leonheart. I know that it’s your family name and couldn’t help but wonder how common the name is.” Annie frowned before pulling parchment out of her bag. 

“I can’t remeber anyone-” 

“You wouldn’t, she died when we were three.” 

“Then I don’t remember anyone by that name mentioned, but you never know. I’ll shoot my dad a letter and ask.” 

“He didn’t see you off?” 

“Not this year. Honestly I think last year was the exception.” she muttered, scribbling down a note. “Either way, he should give me an answer within a week. I just mentioned you were a schoolmate. Maybe you won’t be the only mu-” 

“Heard it enough thanks. and thanks for doing this.” He said. “Maybe it’ll help me know her better.” annie smiled at him. 

“My pleasure. But I want to know what the deal is as much as you do. If my dad’s known about you and then I’m going to be kicking some serious butt.” she muttered, rolling up the parchment before shoving it at her owl. “Take it to father, and peck the ever loving shit out of him until he reads and replies.” the owl flew off just as Jean trudged into the compartment. 

“Mikasa shot me down.” he mumbled, flopping into the seat next to Armin. 

“you asked her? When?” Armin demanded. 

“about a minute ago. I thought it was the perfect opportunity.” Both Armin and Annie groaned. 

“You don’t as a girl out on a platform Jean.” Annie sighed. “That’s just not what you do.” 

“But it works in the muggle movies-” 

“Where did you get muggle movies?” Armin asked. 

“I spent some time with Connie over the summer and we watched some old movies and they worked!” Armin rolled his eyes. 

“Don’t trust Romance movies. Just because they work there doesn’t mean they’re going to work in real life. They’re filmed fiction, they can make it work if they want to.” Jean turned bright red. 

“Oh. shit. What do I do now?” he asked. 

“Nothing.” Annie answered. “You’re fucked.” 

Jean groaned and leaned against the wall. “Oh no.” armin lightly kicked Annie’s shin as she grinned malevolently. 

“No you aren’t Jean, you just-” At that moment the door opened to reveal Mikasa and her cat. 

“Hey, Everyone else is full up. Mind if I budge in?” she asked. Jean turned bright red while Armin motioned to the seat next to Annie. 

“So, what were you three talking about?” she asked. 

“We were talking about why Jean failed to get you to go out with him.” 

Armin didn’t realize that the human skin could blush so hard that it looked neon. 

“Oh, it’s because I’m going to enter the Triwizard Tournament and need to focus on preparing for it.” Mikasa answered. The blood began to slowly drain out of Jean’s face. 

“So, what would you have said if you weren’t planning on it?”

“I still would have said no. My parents were two feet away, now they’re going to write Aunt Kuchel or Levi and I’m not going to hear the end of it. And god forbid Uncle Kenny hear.” she shuddered. 

“Sorry. But, uh, say someone else gets picked to be the Champion?” Jean asked tentatively. “Would you go out with me then?” 

“Yeah, I guess.” Mikasa said, but promptly turned to Armin and began asking him how to deal with pixies in one’s attic. 

 

they got off the train a few hours later, and carried their things over to the carriages. Armin eyed the Thestral, which was a painful reminder of the fact he’d been in the crash that killed his parents. They let him take the seat with his back to the beast and soon were headed towards the castle. 

“You know, Armin, if you were Hogwarts champions then you’d probably win.” Mikasa said, making him turn bright red. 

“No, I doubt it. I’m not in good enough shape. And either way I’m just not going to join. I have my plan set out and it definitely does not have room for the Tournament.” Mikasa rolled her eyes. 

“Alright. But I don’t see how a life that’s been planned out to every last second can be any fun.” she replied. 

“I don’t have everything planned out, it just stops when I get where I want to be.” 

“Which is?” 

“Youngest Minister of Magic.” Jean and Annie said in unison. Mikasa laughed. 

“Good luck with that. But I hear that Kingsley is a bit of a permanent fixture. You’ll have to wait for him to kick it.” Armin shrugged. 

“I’ve made allowances in my planning.” 

“Sweetie, I have to say I agree with Mikasa.” Annie said, patting his knee. “You need to cut loose every so often. I mean, your plan doesn’t even include falling for someone!” 

“Because I plan on focussing on becoming Minister.” Armin insisted. Jean and Mikasa excheanged a look, but nobody said anything more on the subject. 

The entrance hall was filled with older students leaving their trunks in piles, letting their pets fly or run off, and slipping their robes over their heads. 

The four joined in these activities then followed the crowd headed to the Great Hall. 

The teacher had already taken their seats, with the exception of the Zacharias’, who were busy preparing for the sorting. Kuchel had rearranged the seating so that her son now sat to her right, with Hange, the zany Magical Creatures teacher, was to her left. 

He wondered what had caused the change for a moment before tuning in to the conversation between Jean and Annie about what might be in the tournament. 

Apparently it was all anybody wanted to talk about because the conversation started up again after the sorting. 

Armin tuned most of it out. It wasn’t in his plan, after all.


	4. Planning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one is so short, but the next one should be decent sized, I promise.

The next morning they were greeted by a reply from Annie’s father. 

“Apparently,” she said over breakfast, “He had a sister named Evelyn. but she turned out to be a squib and his parents sent her into the muggle world to live. He didn’t keep up with her because he’s an asshole.” she said placing the note down on the table. 

“He admits to being an asshole?” Jean asked. 

“No, but he idolized my great grandfather- who was a fucking death eater- and did what would have made him proud and divorced himself from all contact with his sister.” She said with a sigh. “Therefore he’s an asshole.” she said. After a moment she giggled. 

“What’s so funny?” Jean asked, both he and Armin were shocked by the giggle. 

“Armin’s everything that Slytherin hated! He’s the son of a muggle who obviously had some magic in him somewhere, and a squib!” Annie dissolved into giggles, scaring the second and third years nearby. 

“Hey, now I can just mooch off you dad instead of having to worry about money.” Armin said. Annie shook her head. 

“He said if you ever try to approach him that he’ll jinx you. Like I said, he’s an ass.” Armin shrugged. 

“Then you can get money and slip it on to me.”

“Or you could just say goodbye to your plan and go for the tournament?” Jean suggested. 

“I told you-” 

“Come on.” Annie sighed. “I heard my mother’s co-worker mention how the school are only bringing their best students! If we don’t enter our best students-” 

“Including you.” Jean supported. 

“- then we’re going to lose. Apparently the Durmstrang Headmaster is pissed cause his school hasn’t won in the entire time he’s been there as a student and as a teacher. Let’s keep that up! Piss the old fart off even more!” Armin rolled his eyes. 

“I’ll think about it.” he said after a moment. “But if you want me to enter then don’t bug me. The next time you ask I’m going to say no and lock myself up in the dorm all day when it’s time to enter our names.” the other two nodded their heads triumphantly and they went back to their breakfast. Armin pulled out the sheaf of parchment with his plans mapped out. 

He had to admit that being a champion would probably look good when he left Hogwarts and began working. And being the winner would look even better. But when he looked over his plans there was barely enough room to include the distractions of the tournament like the events and the ball and extra students. 

He had two months to figure out if he could include the tasks and still reach his goal.


	5. The Schools

They had the day off, the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were arriving that afternoon and the teachers saw no reason to make the students go to their classes. So, Armin spent the first part of breakfast scratching angrily at some notes. 

Jean and Annie watched tentatively, knowing that if they asked they might fuck up their chances of him entering.

After an hour of angrily nibbling on toast he slapped his hands on the table. 

“If the tasks were announced early on then I could handle it, but according to what I’ve read from past tournaments, most don’t even know what they’re getting into until the day of. I’m not going to enter.” he said. Annie and Jean groaned. 

“And there goes Slytherin’s chance.” Jean muttered. “Whatever. I’m going to enter. How about you Annie?” 

“Like I could turn down the opportunity.” she scoffed. 

 

They spent the morning on the grounds studying for an upcoming potions exam. They knew that if they weren’t careful then Mike would throw them a curveball and they’d be stuck trying to make a potion that they were told they’d never need to repeat again in the class. 

It had only happened once in their fifth year, but after that they weren’t about to take any chances. 

Around noon they were all lined up on the steps to wait for the other schools to arrive.they were allowed to sit since they didn’t actually know what time they would arrive. 

After about fifteen minutes Armin pulled out his books and- with permission from Farlan- began practicing his Transfiguration on nearby rocks and blades of grass. 

Kuchel happened to look over as he turned a rock into a mouse, which scurried away at top speed. She smiled, remembering when Farlan had done the same thing. She looked at Levi and his adopted brother arguing about the best technique to rid someone of warts and smiled. 

At one thirty the schools still had not arrived and the house elves popped out with paper bags containing sandwiches for the students and teachers. fifteen minutes later a loud boom echoed through the grounds, followed by a burst of air that knocked over many students and teachers. 

when they looked up a miniature castle was parked in the middle of the school grounds. 

“Damn Durmstrangs.” Levi snapped, getting back to his feet. “Always have to fucking show off.” Kuchel got onto him for cursing in front of the younger students while the teachers nodded their agreement. 

a moment later a tall blond man lead a group of students clad in red towards the main castle. 

As they got closer Armin saw that the man was flanked by two students. the boy and girl were both tall with olive skin and long brown hair. The girl’s hair was a slightly lighter shade than the boy’s and was braided down her back while the boy’s was tied in a knot higher on his head. 

“Erwin,” Kuchel gushed when he got close enough, “How wonderful to see you again. And may I say you look better clean shaven than with that awful goatee you were sporting last we met.” 

Erwin flushed. “It is nice to see you as well. Though I believe you are greyer than you were at the last tournament.” 

“It’s called Age. Just because you barely breached fourty doesn’t mean that you’re immune to the ravages of time.” she replied. “Who are these two students that you seem to favour?” she asked. The girl rolled her eyes a touch as Erwin laid his hands on their shoulders.

“Legacies, Kuchel, legacies. This young man is Eren Yeager from Germany, you may recognize the name. His father was the one that found the cure for Dragon Pox twenty years ago.” The boy bowed his head and Kuchel smiled back. “And this young lady is Ymir Krum from Bulgaria.” everyone stared as the girl nodded her head. 

“Krum as in-” 

“My grandfather was a Quidditch player for Bulgaria.” she said politely, eyeing a scene being made a few feet away by Isabel- who had been brought on after a nasty incident with a bludger- that was being handled by her older brothers. 

Kuchel figured that her daughter must be wanting to get an autograph through the girl. 

“And a Triwizard champion himself. Was your father in the tournament?” Kuchel asked. Ymir shrugged. 

“I don’t know. I never met my father, I carry my mother’s name. but she was sixteen when the tournament came round so she was not able to compete.” 

“Shame, I’m sure she would have done excellent.” Kuchel said. Ymir bowed her head and said no more. 

“there you are Kuchel. The son of a savior and the granddaughter of a champion. Can you top that?” he asked. She exchanged a few looks with Kenny and Levi before snapping her fingers at her niece before grabbing Armin and Annie by the arm and dragging them over. 

“In a way.” Mikasa strode up to face Erwin. “This is my niece. She’s one of the best students we have. And this young lady.” she said, turning Annie’s head to face Erwin. “Comes from a family of duelling champions on both sides. I believe you lost to her father a few years ago. Narcissus Leonhart?” Erwin shifted. 

“Yes, I did.” 

“And this young man is the best student to come through Hogwarts since I began. And arguably the best since Hermione Granger.” she said, patting Armin’s shoulder. 

“and what is his lineage?” Erwin asked. 

“I don’t think bloodlines count. It’s the actions of the students, not those of their parents, that really count.” Erwin rolled his eyes. 

“If you insist. Now if you don’t mind, I’ll be taking my students inside where they may be comfortable.” He said, steering his two prize students into the castle. Kuchel stayed calm and smiled at the students until the last of them got into the castle. 

“He can kiss my ass. Fucking Krum's granddaughter. I would have gotten her if his daughter hadn't moved back to Bulgaria. Fuck him and coincidence. ”

“Mom!” Levi gasped as Isabel giggled away. “You got onto me! You're the headmistress!” 

“And I'm your mother so can it.” She continued to mutter angrily under her breath. The older students tried not to giggle at her anger, but she was usually so calm that it was funny to see part of her son’s personality come out. 

An hour later a small dot appeared over the Durmstrang castle and all of the students got to their feet when Isabel declared it was the Beauxbatons. 

Kuchel looked to her son. “I want you to escort the headmistress inside.” The Slytherin and Gryffindor seventh years burst out laughing. They all knew that the Headmistress, Olympe Maxime, was a half giantess who was the same size as their grounds keeper Hagrid. 

“Mom, come on.” He groaned as Isabel, Farlan, Hange, and Mike burst into raucous laughter. Even Kenny took his side. 

“Kuchel, only do that if you want your son to become paste. Assuming she could reach his head at all if she were to put any weight on him then she would crush him!” 

“You're a foot taller than him, would you like to take her inside?” That shut him up. 

Levi looked a little distressed as the large carriage came to a halt before them. The half-giant coachman hopped down and opened the door. He held out his large hand for the headmistress, but to the surprise of all but Kuchel, it was not the hand of a giantess that appeared. 

He helped a woman with red hair braided into a bun on the top of her head down onto the grass. She walked forward, smoothing the long skirt of her blue dress. She looked up and smiled at Kuchel. 

“Bonjour, Madame. It's good to see you again, how have you been in the last few months?” The woman asked as her students plopped out of the carriage. 

“Very well Petra. And yourself?” Petra turned to look at the many students clad in the same shade of blue as her dress. 

“Could be better. They were all very fussy on the ride here.” She shrugged. “But nothing I couldn't handle. 

“Pardon me,” Kenny interrupted, “Where is your headmistress?” Petra took in Kenny’s scraggly beard that had bits of sausage laced within, and tried not to show her distaste. 

“I am the headmistress. Madame Maxime retired over the summer.” She replied shortly before turning to Kuchel. “I see that Headmaster Smith is already here, shall we go inside?” She asks. Kuchel nodded and Petra turned around to snap at her students to stop fooling around and to get ready to go inside. 

Levi stepped in and offered his arm. But before she could take it, Kenny swooped in with a grin and offered to take her inside. But this time he was close enough that she could smell the whiskey and sausage and pumpkin juice on his breath. 

She gave him a wary look and took Levi's arm. She turned as he lead her up to instruct her students to follow while Levi gave Kenny a triumphant look before Petra turned back and they entered a conversation. 

Kuchel and the other teachers ushered the students into the hall. 

The Durmstrang students were lined up against the wall while Headmaster Smith argued with the young woman named Rico that was in charge of caring for the castle. 

“Ah, Headmistress.” She called as Kuchel entered the hall. “Please assist me. Headmaster Smith wants me to pull out two more chairs to the teacher's table so that those two-” and she jabbed a finpntger and his two favorites, “-can sit with him.” Kuchel rolled her eyes. 

“Rico, go to the kitchens and request more desert be made. I don't think that we have a wide enough range.” She instructed. Rico nodded and ran off. “Erwin, the students will sit with the students. I doubt they would enjoy our conversation anyway.”

“But-”

“My niece does not sit with me there, and nor did any of my children while they were students. So your students can sit here.” 

Erwin huffed and stormed off. Armin exchanged entertained looks with his friends. 

“Excuse me,” Eren asked with a deeper voice than Armin had expected, “Where should we sit?” Kuchel smiled softly and motioned to the Slytherin table. 

“In the past your school has continued to sit here, you may chose a different table but-” 

“Thank you.” Eren said with a deep now. He barked something to his fellows and they all looked for empty seats. 

Ymir hopped onto the bench and then from there she hopped onto the table and turned around, the heavy red skirt of her uniform twirled lightly as she fell into the gap between the table and the bench. Kuchel shook her head. 

“Please refrain from jumping on my tables.” Kuchel asked before walking off. Ymir shrugged and took the spot next to Annie and Eren took the seat across from her which was next to Armin. 

The two of them spoke angrily while the school heads gave statements either welcoming the students or asking for friendship and goodwill between schools. Petra seemed to mean it more than Erwin, but it couldn't be helped.

The angry back and forth stopped when the food appeared before them. 

“So what were you two going at?” Annie asked. They both eyes her for a moment. 

“Fuck off.” Was all that they got out of Ymir. But Eren rolled his eyes.

“We were talking about how she owes me ten galleons because my quidditch team won and for some reason she can't pay me back.” 

“I told you,” she hissed with a smooth voice, “Once I win I'll pay you back.”

“Oh yes, because someone who makes a bet she can't actually pay is much worthier than I am.” Eren laughed. She rolled her eyes and turned to the Durmstrang girl next to her and began talking. Eren turned to look at the three Slytherins next to him. 

“So, are you going to enter?” He asked. Armin shook his head while his friends nodded. 

Eren gave him an odd look, but entered into a conversation with Jean and Annie about what they thought the tasks would be. 

Armin would occasionally give his input, but wasn’t drawn in until the end of desert. 

“Well, Ackerman is fucking fantastic, but honestly, I think Armin would really give the other two champions a run for their money.” Annie said, looking pointedly at him, Eren smiled and finally asked what had been on his mind earlier. 

“Why aren’t you entering?” he asked. Armin took a deep breath and gave him “the plan” speech, leaving Eren flabbergasted by the end of it. 

“So, you’re turning this down because it interferes with some plan?” he asked. “that seems rather ridiculous.” 

“I’d rather have a plan than be left to figure things out as I go.” Armin replied shortly, having already gotten smacked with it earlier. 

“To each their own.” Eren said with a shrug. “I just personally don’t see that it’s a way to live. there are things to see and people to meet and fall in love with. we shouldn’t be trapped by plans just because they may lead us somewhere. Sure they may take us where we want to go, but life doesn’t always work that way.” he caught Armin’s eye. “Is there somewhere you’d like to go?” 

Armin blushed. “I’d like to see the beaches of the Caribbean Islands, but after I become minister I can do it then.” Eren shook his head. 

“See, that’s what I never get. My mother said she’d always go to France once she saw me off to school. the thing is that she died before I started at Durmstrang. She got caught outside during a blizzard and froze to death. She never got to see France. the same may happen to you.” Armin blushed. 

“But I’ve made sure that I’ll avoid-” 

“Some shit you can’t avoid.” Eren interrupted. “two towns in Romania were lost because some wizards running a Dragon Sanctuary didn’t plan on what happens when you forget to put the wards up before going to bed. Life happens and that’s that. So you have to live it well before it catches up with you.” He shrugged and stood, seeing his headmaster do the same. “I hope your plan works out if you decide to keep with it. If not, just have some fun.” Eren walked off, barking at Ymir in Bulgarian to get moving. 

Armin thought about Eren’s words all night long, not getting a lick of sleep. 

They were profound, and there was something about his pine green eyes that made Armin feel… something? He wasn’t quite sure. 

But whatever it was he was feeling he decided that maybe there was a little truth to his statement. and maybe he could wait a little longer to be the minister of Magic. It was impressive regardless of age to become one. 

He decided that in the morning he’d just start a new plan that allowed more time to have a little more fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm going half and half between the description of the durmstrang outfits in the books and the uniforms in the movie. And I've included a skirt for the girls cause I really like the idea of Ymir in a skirt.


	6. Goblet

The next morning Annie and Jean dragged Armin out of bed to get to the goblet early. They stopped and stared at the blue flames for a while before Annie and Jean both pulled out slips of paper and scribbled down their names and schools. 

Armin stared at the flames for a long while, but decided that it just wasn’t worth the risk. he followed his friends into the great hall and they began eating. a few moments later the Durmstrang students began to trickle into the main hall. 

The evening before they had worn dressy red uniforms with capes hanging off their left shoulder. But today they wore simple brown shirts tucked into matching pants for the boys and skirts paired with thick leggings for the girls.

Ymir and Eren came in, arguing once again. When they reached the table she sent a rude gesture his way and sat next to another girl. 

Eren rolled his eyes and walked over to sit next to Armin again. 

“Don't you have other friends?” Jean asked grumpily. Eren rolled his eyes. 

“It's all about international friendship with these things.” 

“so Ymir’s your only friend?” Annie asked. 

“that's stretching it but yes.” Eren sighed. Armin grinned and looked down at his books 

“So did you two go ahead and put your names in?” Eren asked. Annie nodded. 

“Sort of.” Jean said, causing the other four to give him questioning looks. 

‘What do you mean?” Annie asked. 

“Well, Mikasa was coming in and I wanted her to see me submitting my name, but if I actually got picked she wouldn’t date me because she wouldn’t want me to get distracted so I… I put Armin’s name in instead.” Annie’s eyes popped while Armin processed what Jean said. 

And then he hopped over the table and chased Jean out of the hall. Eren looked around, extremely confused. 

“Does that happen often?”he asked Annie as Jean and Armin raced out of the hall. 

“Armin’s thrown books at him before, but he must be really pissed for him to actually chase Jean.” she replied after a moment. 

 

Eventually Armin ran out of steam and Jean was able to escape, but when they all gathered for the feast he made sure to sit far away from Armin. 

The students ate quickly, hoping to lessen the time until the names were drawn and they would find out who the knew champions were. the teachers on the other hand felt there was no need and took their time eating their dinner. 

The students were practically hopping with anticipation by the time Kuchel whipped out her wand and extinguished the light of the candles. 

The only light were the dim blue flames coming from the lip of the goblet. Erwin, Kuchel, and Petra all walked up to the goblet as the flames began to flicker. A moment after they reached it a slip of paper was spat into the air by flames. it fluttered down into the waiting palms of the three heads, who opened it up and read the name. 

“The champion for Beauxbatons is Historia Reiss.” Erwin smith called before the school’s headmistress could even open her mouth. Thankfully her students were too busy celebrating to see their headmistress shoot a glare at him. 

A tiny blonde girl skipped up the stairs, her pale blue robes floating around her legs, and was lead into a side room to wait. The flames began to flicker again and Armin grinned as his headmistress elbowed Erwin in the gut so that Petra could catch the paper that came out of it. 

“The Durmstrang Champion is Eren Yeager.” She called, and the Durmstrangs began to cheer. Armin and Annie congratulated Eren as he got up and walked to the front to also be lead into the side room. 

the room went still one more time as the flames spat out the final scrap of parchment and Petra silently jinxed Erwin so that he hopped away from the goblet. Annie turned to Armin while Kuchel snatched up the parchment. 

“Listen, you’re going to get picked. You’re amazing and it’s bound to happen. Don’t worry about it case it’ll only help you.” 

“The hogwarts champion is-” Armin opened his mouth to tell her that it wouldn’t be okay, but was interrupted by Kuchel crying “- Annie Leonhart!”

Annie’s jaw dropped and she stared at her headmistress while their table cheered. Armin grinned and pushed her away, relieved that it wasn’t him. 

after Annie had slipped inside the room with the other champions the heads gave short speeches and dismissed the students. 

Jean waited outside the hall for Armin with a smile. 

“See, everybody wins! I get to date Mikasa, our friend is the new champion, and you don’t have to worry about getting hurt!” he gushed. Armin blinked at him, and them hit him with a jelly-legged jinx. 

“I’m still mad at you.” he announced before leaving Jean to deal with the curse.


	7. Debt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I had presents to make and school stuff to take care of. Enjoy!

The next morning Annie sat with her wand out and a snarl on her face to deflect anyone who wanted to ask her about the first task. Jean and Armin had to wait until after breakfast to hear, and even then she dragged them halfway down the grounds before she would say anything. 

“THEY AREN'T TELLING US ABOUT THE FIRST TASK UNTIL THE DAY OF AND ITS PISING ME OFF!” She yelled. Armin shrugged. 

“That's why I didn't put my name in. They never tell you what the first task is so you aren't able to prepare for it. Now there had been a history of headmasters and teachers slipping their champion information about the task but all of our teachers are too honest.” He told her. 

“I bet that fuck face Yeager knows. His headmaster seems to be really intent on being the best.” Jean muttered. 

“How rude of you to lump me in.” Came the accented voice behind them. Try turned around to see Eren in his brown uniform standing three meters behind them. 

“Fucking eavesdropper.” Jean snarled. Eren shrugged and looked at Annie. 

“Erwin told me that the first task is a scavenger hunt through the forest. He doesn't know what we’ll have to find, but I'm sure he'll find out eventually.” 

“So you’re going to dangle this over my head later so that I do something for you in return for finding out what we need to look for?” annie asked with a sneer. Eren frowned. 

“No, I told you because everyone deserves to be on equal ground. How will we know who is best if I have a leg up? It’s better if everyone knows.” Eren replied before turning away and walking off. 

“Anyone else thinking that he seems like a bit of a Hufflepuff?” Annie grumbled. Armin smiled. 

“I think it’s nice. And I don’t know why you’re getting your unders in a wad, he just gave you some valuable advice. now you can get ready to run your arse off.” He pointed out. she stuck her tongue out at him. 

“I wish it had been the little French bitch.” she replied. 

“Bet she doesn’t know yet.” Jean said. “I just saw the Beauxbatons kids leave their carriage, and I have the feeling that their headmistress isn’t the type to tip her champion off.” 

 

later that afternoon they were approached by eren’s cranky friend. 

“Hey, do you know the champion from Beauxbatons?” she asked. they all shook their heads. 

“Sorry, no. Is there a reason why?” Armin said for the group. She huffed. 

“She’s cute and I want to be introduced to her.” 

“Why not introduce yourself?” Annie asked. Ymir rolled her eyes. 

“Obviously because it’s rude to introduce yourself to future prospects? where do you live where you actually introduce yourself to a suitor?” she asked. 

“In the twenty-first century. Nobody’s had to be introduced through a friend since the eighteen hundreds mate.” annie responded. “Seriously, we even have indoor plumbing now, hasn’t it reached Bulgaria’s wizarding population yet?” she received a glare in return. 

“Maybe the practice has merely been deserted by the lower class wizards. If you were of the older wizarding families you’d understand.” Ymir said with a dismissive shrug. 

“Say that to my face bitch.” Annie growled. 

“Say we introduce her to you-” Armin interrupted, hoping to distract the girls from going at each other’s throats, “- what’s in it for us?” he asked. annie and Jean exchanged looks for a brief moment before turning to watch ymir’s expression. 

“You can’t just help a girl out?” she asked. 

“then I guess you don’t want to date her that badly.” Armin said with a shrug. ymir flinched. 

“Fine, I can get you whatever you want. Money, quidditch tickets, potion ingredients. You name it.” Armin grinned at her, and she instantly regretted her decision. 

 

Historia sat facing the school with a notebook open in her lap and a quill in her hand. Armin walked up behind her and looked at the outline of the castle sketched onto the pages. 

“You missed the tower on the east side of the castle.” He observed aloud. She looked up in surprise. 

“What?” She asked before looking at the castle itself. “Oh, thank you.” She quickly etched the outline onto the page. 

“I'm sorry for peeking.” He said honestly. 

“It's not a big deal.” She replied with a smile as he sat down next to him. “Especially when compared to my siblings. They've snatched art out of my hands before and told me that it's missing something that they would like to see, or that it would look better if something was replaced with something else… Sorry, that probably doesn't make sense.” Armin shook his head. 

“It does. I have a cousin that has the same problem with her brother. Of course she's a muggle and can't jinx him away like you could.” Armin said with a shrug, but her eyes grew and she shook her head.

“Oh, no, I couldn't! I'm muggleborn and all of my siblings are muggles! If I jinxed them I would go to Azkaban!” 

“Oh, I guess that does make a difference.” Armin said with a shrug. 

“It does. And it makes going to school a pain because I have to bring my art with me so that they don't get into it while I'm away.” 

“Oh, I understand that. I live with my grandfather and an aunt and uncle with their three kids. Of course I was able to magically seal them out of my room this year since I'm of age but every other year I've had to empty my room into my trunk. If I leave anything behind they'll tamper with it.” 

“Damn, I didn't think of that this year.” Historia muttered. Armin laughed. 

“Oh well, what's done is done.” She then realized that she didn't know him and gave him a curious glance. 

“Is there a particular reason you began talking to me?” She asked. Armin grinned. 

“Yeah, I was hoping to just slip it in. But there's someone I know that is interested in you but is too dense to make the first move herself.” Historia smiled and looked down at her drawing. 

“Is it the champion from your school? I noticed you sitting next to her earlier.” She asked. Armin was slightly surprised she recognized him but quickly shook it off. 

“No, she's a Durmstrang student. The one constantly hanging around their champion.” Historia but her lip and thought about it for the moment. 

“The dark one?” 

“Yeah, her name's Ymir Krum.” 

“... Yeah, I could be interested if she can get up the nerve to ask me herself.” Historia replied. Armin grinned and got to his feet. 

“Great. I'll pass it along.” He said, brushing off his robes. 

“What's your name?” She asked. 

“Armin Arlert. Nice to meet you.” 

 

Ymir was waiting eagerly at the table come supper that day.

“Well, are you going to introduce me or not?” She asked. Armin shook his head. 

“I talked to her and she said she'll date you if you can get up the nerve to ask.” 

“THAT’S NOT WHAT WE AGREED ON!” 

“Are you questioning my methods?” He asked. “She's muggleborn. She’ll respond best to what she's grown up with. And I'm telling you right now that there's no way that she'll be impressed by you being introduced by a proxy and taking it slow.” 

“But it's rude! And if you don't introduce me then you lose whatever you were going to ask for!” 

“No, I just won't gain it. You're the only one that will lose. It's gain for everyone but you in this situation. Now either act on what I've told you or regret it.” He said, summoning the steak platter away from a first year further down the table. Ymir glared at him as he transferred the slab of meat into his plate and sent the platter back down the table.

“Fuck you.” She finally snapped before getting up and walking away. 

“If it helps, she actually accepted your advice. She just wanted to see if you’d freak and do what she wanted if she made it seem like you wouldn't gain the favor. You probably gathered on the first day but she doesn't like being in someone's debt.” Eren said while stirring his soup. 

Armin remembered the argument she had with Eren over ten galleons and laughed. 

“Yeah, well, I'll still hold her to it when they start dating.” Eren smiled at him. 

“What are you going to ask for? I know she said that you could have whatever you wanted.” 

“I'm not sure yet.” Armin said honestly. “I may just hold onto it for a while until I can use it to my advantage.” Eren smiled. 

“You may want to remind her every once in awhile, just to keep her on edge. Also keep in mind that she doesn't have any government connections beyond ministers trying to buddy up with her family for popularity every so often. You’d be better off asking her for something she can get win quidditch connections or money.” Armin nodded. 

“I knew that when I asked her. But she's still a good asset nonetheless.” Eren laughed. 

 

At the end of the night Ymir cornered Armin on his way back to his dorm. 

“She said yes. Now what do you want?” She grumbled. Armin smiled sweetly at her.

“I don't know. I'll figure it out later. Just don't forget that you owe me.” He said before slipping by her and descending the stairs into the dungeon.


	8. Countdown

The day before the tournament Annie was struck with a wave of anxiety that landed her in the hospital wing. 

“You know,” Jean said as he and Armin visited her on their lunch break, “It’s probably not going to even be that bad. You’re going to go out there tomorrow, do better than everyone else, and then say “Oh, that was super easy!” Armin rolled his eyes. 

“I doubt “super easy” will describe the task, but it’s not going to be as dangerous as past tasks. The minister of magic announced that himself.” Armin pointed out. It didn’t stop Annie from shaking or mentally going through all the things that could happen the next day. 

The boys left her to Madame Pomfrey, who had promised to give her a potion to put her to sleep, and went back to class. 

 

Ymir had asked Armin to help her with her Astronomy homework, and so stayed in the library later than the other students. 

They had finally finished the assignment when Levi Ackerman walked around the corner. 

“There you two are.” he sighed. “I have been looking all over for you two.” he explained, walking down the aisle towards them. 

“Why’s that sir?” Armin asked. Levi drew his wand out of his pocket. 

“I’m really sorry but I swear it’ll make sense in the morning.” he said before stunning both of them. 

 

“Where’s Ymir at? I can’t hear her anger this morning.” Jean asked as Eren sat down in front of him. 

“No clue. My best guess is that she ran off to go sulk because she wasn’t able to be in the tournament.” Eren replied. “Where’re your friends at?” 

“Annie stayed the night in the hospital wing, and I guess Armin went to talk her out of her anxiety before the task.” Jean said. “Ah shit, the other champion is coming over.” Eren followed Jean’s eyes over his shoulder, and saw Historia walking around the other tables towards them. 

“Wonder what she wants.” 

“Probably to know where her girlfriend is.” Jean muttered. “Either way she’s looking at you. I’m tappin’ out boy.” ERen rolled his eyes. 

“Thanks for the support.” he grumbled as Historia turned next to the Slytherin table and marched over to him. 

“Did your headmaster ever find out any more specifics about the task today?” she asked quietly. 

I’m sorry, but all he found out was that it’ll be in the forest.” Eren said with an apologetic shrug. 

“You told us that last week.”

“And that’s been all we’ve heard. He thinks that they might be holding back the specifics until the beginning of the task so that there’s as little cheating as possible going on.” 

Historia pouted a little bit. “Well damn. I was hoping to get more information before the task.” 

“You and me both.” Eren replied. “I hate going in blind. But I guess it can’t be helped.” Historia nodded as she looked up and down the table. 

“You know where Ymir’s at?” she asked. 

 

Annie was still rather anxious when the three Champions took their places in front of the giant bleachers. Eren elbowed her in the side and smiled at her. 

“You’ll do fine. The cup wouldn’t have chosen you if it didn’t think you could handle it.” he said in a soft voice. She gave him an uneasy smile in return. 

“Thanks, but my brain keeps telling me otherwise.” Eren chuckled. 

“I know how it is, but try and use the paranoia to your advantage. I know there’s some dangerous shit inside that forest, so being on edge might help you catch something coming up on you.” He clapped her on the shoulder and took his place in front of his head master. 

The three Ackermans walked up to the champions and began placing spells on them that allowed the schools and judges to watch their performance in the woods. Annie looked past her headmistress’s shoulder and saw three large canvases beginning to show the champions, one per canvas, from a point about ten feet behind them. 

“Weird spell.” She muttered as Kuchel finished the first incantation. 

“Perhaps, but at least this way we can make sure you’re safe. No don’t say anything vulgar from this point on, I’m about to place a charm that will allow us to hear you. I don’t want any of the younger students learning more curse words today.” Annie nodded as the second spell began. 

Once all three champions had been properly spelled, the teachers stepped away and the minister of magic took his place at the podium. 

“Welcome students to the first task of the Triwizard tournament!” he said, his voice amplified by the wand held to his neck. The students cheered as the transfiguration and charms teachers from all three schools huddled over a table, working quickly on whatever lay on it. 

“The first task is rather simple compared to those from previous tournaments, but it is no less challenging.” He motioned to the teachers, who walked over to their students with leather bags and a roll of parchment. “The champions will compete in a scavenger hunt for various items. Some will be ingredients to potions, some will be magical items that the teachers have placed throughout the forest, and others will be simple plant life. These don’t even cover all of what they may be asked to collect. While they are looking they may encounter other magical life that will most likely object to their presence in the forest, and they will protect themself against whatever comes their way. 

“If they cannot, then we shall pull them from the forest and they will get partial points for whatever they acquired while inside.” Kingsley then turned to face the Champions. “You may use whatever magical spells, curses, or jinxes that you need, so long as they are not used to harm the other champions. The items you need will appear on your list as you find the ones before it.” He nodded to Isabel and sat down. The quidditch referee grinned at the three champions and pulled a whistle out of her pocket. 

“YOU HAVE THREE HOURS TO FIND EVERYTHING ON YOUR LIST AND GET OUT OF THE FOREST!” She yelled, not needing a spell to be heard by everyone. “ON MY MARK!” The three champions readied themselves to sprint into the forest and she raised the whistle to her lips. “THREE, TWO-” An ear piercing sound came from the whistle and the three champions ran into the forest as their schoolmates cheered.


	9. You've Got to be Shitting Me

Each charms professor sat underneath the Judge’s table with a roll of parchment on their lap. once their student got far enough into the forest they began to write, and their writing appeared on the parchment of their champion. Eren looked down, hearing the sound of a quill scratching away. He came to a halt though, reading what the first item was. 

“HOW IS THIS A SAFE TASK IF I HAVE TO GET ACROMANTULA VENOM?” he demanded loudly in german. 

Annie heard a slight yelling and glanced at her parchment to see the same ingredient had been added. The stream of curses flooded out of her mouth. Kuchel groaned as the folder students laughed and he younger students listened in awe. 

Historia stopped, listening to the curses that echoed through the forest and nervously glanced down at her parchment to see why everyone was so upset. “VIAL of Acromantula venom” was written on her parchment in French with the entire word vial capitalized and underlined. 

The other two teachers realized their mistakes and quickly corrected the statement. This lead to more cursing from the other two students. Eld turned red as his students laughed at his mistake, and Farlan snatched Annie’s parchment out of his hand. “Give me that before you cause any more trouble.” He grumbled, pushing Eld out of the seat. 

Historia tried to summon the vial of venom, but after standing in place for a few minutes realized that she was going to have to find the vial without help from that charm. 

Eren, however, had already found away around that and used a tracking spell that lead him through the forest to the vial, which had been placed in a branch high off of the ground. He scaled the tree just as Annie stumbled upon hers far to his left. More cursing ensued, had she know she would need to climb trees she would have dressed in jeans and better shoes. 

Historia however, had ran right under vial and was now getting yelled at by her fellow students telling her it was “RIGHT THERE.” Not that she could actually hear them. 

Eren grinned as he shoved his vial of venom into his bag and checked his list. He watched as “handful of knotgrass” was scribbled onto his parchment. He looked over his parchment at the patch that he had walked through on his way to the tree. 

“Someone didn’t think that through.” he grunted to himself as he shimmied down the tree. 

The entire hogwarts staff turned to look at Kenny Ackerman, who had been in charge of setting up the potion ingredients. 

“Well I’m sorry I put it so close. Nobody would have minded if Annie had found that one.” he snapped. 

Eventually Annie got tired of trying to climb the tree and blasted the branch off. The venom fell to the ground and rolled to her feet. 

“Take that asshole.” she said to the vial, shoving it in her bag. she glanced down at the list which announced she had to find “Wolf feces” she wondered over the word for a moment before becoming royally pissed off. 

“I have to pick up wolf shit without anything to protect my hand. Fucking fantastic.” she muttered darkly, walking off deeper into the forest. 

Kenny looked over at his sister and nephew. 

“Why don’t they have that one the same?” he asked. 

“The have two items that are the same, everything else challenges each of them in a way that is supposed to put them on equal ground. However you made Eren’s job rather easy.” 

“Not to easy since he’s still going at that knotgrass.” he pointed out. And he was right. Knotgrass typically was picked while the harvester had scissors and the items on the list could not be harvested by magic. Eventually Eren threw down his list and bag and performed magic that was usually beyond the skill of a young wizard to tear up a clump of knotgrass. 

All of the students cheered or clapped for his magnificent display as he placed the knotgrass inside the bag. 

“I didn’t realize that you could do that so young.” Kuchel muttered as Eren ran off in search of a flower that only bloomed in the forest. 

Historia finally got the venom out of the tree by using a stick to push it out, and was sent off to retrieve the tail hair of a centaur.

 

Despite her late start, Historia was the one that made it through the list quickest, with Annie coming up behind her. 

While Historia’s height was used against her, and everything Annie had to find grossed her out to no end, Eren’s list was by far the hardest due to the amount of foliage that he was required to find. 

Historia picked up her second to last item and watched the list. “Un moment s'il vous plait” appeared on the list, making her frown. 

At the judges table, the charms teacher prepared a final spell. During that time, Annie gagged over some earthworms she was having to pull out of the ground with her bare hands, but didn’t notice the acromantula that was coming up behind her. 

It reared up without her even suspecting its existence, and came down hard, pincers ready to pierce her neck. But tumbled forward through empty space. 

Eld had pulled Annie to safety before the oversized arachnid had been able to do any damage. She wasn’t happy about it, but didn’t say anything since she’d found almost everything halfway through the three hours and got eighty points out of one hundred. 

Eld’s quick actions had meant that the charms professors had to start the spell all over again, giving time for Eren to force a bowtruckle into his bag. 

Historia stared impatiently at her list while a different hand scribbled “Warte kurz” on Eren’s list. Eren wondered if it would affect their time when the spell was completed and the two teachers wrote out “One student” in their champion’s native tongue. 

Both children stared at their list, trying to figure out what it meant. 

And then two screams echoed through the forest. Historia whipped around to look where the nearest one had sounded, and saw Ymir two trees away clinging to the underside of a branch fifty feet up. And ERen dashed towards the other scream, which was about a half mile away from him. 

“Hello dear, I was wondering why you weren’t at breakfast.” Historia laughed, skipping over to her girlfriend. 

“Very funny, now can you please help me get down?” Ymir asked. Historia studied the tree for a moment before giving Ymir a sheepish grin. 

“You know I love you, right?” she asked. Ymir’s eyes grew as Historia raised her wand. 

“WHAT ARE YOU ABOUT TO DO?” she demanded. 

“Bombarda!” Historia yelled, and a small explosion went off a few inches from Ymir’s feet, and she and the branch began to fall. Ymir screamed again as she fell, not noticing when Historia yelled, “Aresto momentum” until she was lightly placed on the ground. 

She looked up at Historia’s face as she said, “Aw, did you fall for me?” with an angelic smile. 

Eren arrived to the nearest student just as they lost their grip on the branch and plummeted to the ground with a shriek. He sprinted over and held out his arms just in time to catch and cradle the student, stopping their fall. 

“Where the fuck am I?” Armin demanded, clutching to Eren’s cloak. 

“Oh, it’s you, I thought you were a girl.” Eren said calmly as he gently placed Armin’s feet on the ground. 

“Why would you think that?” Armin asked, his ears turning red from embarrassment. 

“Well, you're pretty long hair, the scream, and I’ve never seen a guy with a bubble butt before, so I assumed you were a girl.” the redness spread to Armin’s face as Eren cast a spell to figure out his and the other champion’s relation to the edge of the wood. 

“Annie got pulled,” he muttered, “And Historia and her student got a head start.” he gave Armin a quick once over. “Guess I don’t have much of a choice.” he groaned. 

“What in the world are you talking about?” Armin asked, still trying to work out if Eren mistaking him for a girl was a compliment or an insult. ERen shoved the bag, his list, and his wand at Armin. 

“Hold these for a moment.” he said politely. Armin obliged and looked at the list while ERen took a few steps back. 

“You had to look for plants? Wow, you really did have it easy. Knotgrass, Haliwinkles, Mistletoe, jeez, are you making a potion in your next task?” he looked up and his jaw dropped.

Where ERen had been a moment before, a Black Forest draft horse stood, staring at him with big green eyes. 

“Oh my god, no way.” Armin gasped, walking up to the large horse. “You’re an animagus? But you’re the same age as me, how did you convince the government to let you?” He ran his hands over Eren’s side as he whinnied. 

“Of course you can’t answer me yet… Oh my word you’re magnificent.” He breathed, the horse neighed and shook it’s mane proudly, and when he looked up he could see a twinkle in ERen’s eyes. 

“I mean, this is some serious magic and a beautiful animal that you chose.” Armin said, running his hand through the long wavy mane. “But there’s a slight problem, I’m not tall enough to get on without a saddle.” he pointed out. Eren rolled his eyes and got onto his knees. “Okay, fair enough.” 

It took him a moment to get on, but soon enough he was on Eren’s back and Eren was back on his hooves. 

“You’re fucking massive as a horse.” Armin grumbled. “And don’t give me hell if I pull on your mane to hard. It’s going to be hard for me to hold on.” 

Eren rolled his eyes again as Armin tangled his fingers in ERen’s mane and squeezed his legs as tight as he could. “Ready when you are.” he said, squeezing his eyes shut. Eren took off at a full gallop. 

Half a moment later Ymir and Historia were almost knocked over by him as he passed. “What in the world?” Historia asked, watching as the horse bounded off. 

“Just like him to fucking knock me on my ass.” Ymir grumbled. 

Naturally Eren made it back first, prancing into the clearing to tumultuous applause from Durmstrang. 

“I have never been so motion sick in my life.” Armin groaned into Eren’s neck as they came to a stop. Eren got to his knees again and Armin rolled off, allowing the champion to turn back to his normal human self. 

“Mr. Jaeger is now in first place, having exited the forest with one hour and three minutes left!” Kingsley announced. “He receives a full one-hundred points!” 

“To answer your question,” Eren said to Armin as his schoolmates cheered for him, “The ministry cleared it because they didn’t want to put me in Azkaban and get on my father’s bad side. Plus they were rather impressed that I was able to do it while still in school.” he answered with a wry smile. 

“That is rather impressive.” Armin replied with a slight laugh. “No offense, but you almost look better as a horse.” 

“Almost?” Eren asked. 

“You can’t smile as a horse, so you look better as a human so long as you smile.” Eren straightened a little bit and slightly puffed out his chest. 

 

Historia and Ymir ended up needing to be pulled out of the task as well. A wolf whose whiskers had been plucked by Historia had tracked her down, but the the girls’ charms masters pulled them out before it could do any damage beyond ripping Historia’s silk robes. 

Kingsley announced that Historia took second place with ninety points for lasting longer than Annie and collecting more items. The second task was announced to be held in February and the students were dismissed. 

ERen and Armin walked slowly behind the mass of other students. 

“So, thanks for catching me.” Armin said shyly. “Even if you did mistake me for a girl.” 

“I didn’t mean to offend you.” Eren said. 

“I thought as much, but, why were you staring at my butt long enough to pin it as a ‘bubble butt?’” Armin asked. 

“I’ve always prefered butts.” Eren mused. 

“And have you never looked at mine before? I mean, you see me on the grounds a fair bit so why were you so shocked?”

“No, I’ve looked at yours. But you’re almost always in robes or you’re wearing a cloak. This is the first time I’ve seen you out of uniform.” 

“Okay, that makes sense.” Armin said, looking at his sweater and jeans.

“So, and I am well aware that this is personal and out of nowhere, but what is up with you and Kirstein?” Eren asked. “You’ll seem really close, and then suddenly you’ll be at each other like you’re an old married couple.” 

“It’s rather complicated, but long story short is that we dated and it didn’t work out.” Eren’s eyebrows rose. 

“So, you’re interested in men and women or what?” 

“I think it’s just men. There’s to many different types of girls here for me to say none of them are my type, so that just leaves being gay.” he said with a shrug. Eren nodded. 

“That makes sense. So, what guys are your type? Obviously Kirs-”

“No. I’m close to Jean and we’ve been friends since we got sorted, but honestly I’m not into the other guys like him.” 

“So what is your type?” He asked again. Armin glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes for a moment before looking back to the grounds. “Me?” 

“Just a little bit.” Armin replied sheepishly. 

“Well, that’s really nice to hear.” Eren said, puffing his chest out again. 

“Just, don’t mention it to Jean or Annie.” 

“I won’t.” 

“Especially not Annie. She’ll say I’m into horses.” 

“Say what?” ERen stopped dead in his tracks. 

Armin smiled a little bit. “Jean had a bit of a horse-like face while we were dating, and I’ve always been fond of horses and vice-versa. So now that you’ve shown the schools you’re a horse I’d never hear the end of horse jokes.” Eren snorted. 

“Not a word. I swear.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Google Black Forest Horse, they are so freaking beautiful and majestic. You need them in your life.


	10. Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to post. I know it's on the short side but I promise I'll make it up to you soon.

The next morning Eren pulled Armin behind one of the many suits of armor in the hall while Jean and Annie carried on a conversation about the previous day’s task. “Could this not wait for the table?” he asked. Eren looked across the hall at Ymir. 

“Not with our friends waiting there.” He replied, straightening his brown cloak. “Listen, our professors are allowing us to go to with the Hogwarts students to Hogsmeade, and I was wondering if you would show me around.” Armin frowned. 

“You pulled me behind a suit of armor so that you could ask me to show you around town?” Armin asked. “Why-” his eyes grew with a sudden realization. “Are you asking me out?” he asked tentatively. Eren smiled and nodded. 

“I’d ask if we could go in together but I don’t know my way around.” Eren replied sheepishly. Armin shrugged. 

“I’ve fallen behind on my coursework because they kidnapped me for the task, so I can’t go next Saturday.” He replied. Eren’s face turned dark with embarrassment. “But, if you were to just ask me out, then I think I can find something.” Armin said with a smile, slipping between Eren and the suit. Eren watched him walk away with a smile. 

He continued asking Armin to go on some date or another for the next few days, and every single time he was turned down with a sly smile and was told that he might be able to make something work. 

Friday evening after dinner Eren was turned down once again. As Armin walked off Eren ran his hand through his hair. 

“What do I have to do to just spend more time with you?” Eren demanded. Armin turned around. 

“That’s the closest you’ve gotten to the right question.” He said playfully. 

“Oh come on, I just want to be with you, why are you leading me on this chase?” Eren asked. Armin walked back towards Eren. 

“Because you wouldn’t appreciate it if you didn’t have to work for it.” he replied, giving Eren a peck on the cheek before making his way back to his dormitory. 

“Wait, is that a yes?” He yelled. 

“Duh.” Armin called back before disappearing down the stairwell. Eren stared at where the blond had been. 

After a long moment he muttered, “How was that a yes?” and made his way back to the Durmstrang lodgings. 

The next morning after breakfast, Eren made his way out of the castle, and found that Armin was following him out. 

“I thought you needed to study.” Eren said, confused. 

“I made time.” Armin replied with a grin. Eren laughed and wrapped an arm around Armin’s shoulders as they made their way into town. 

 

“So, it’s beer, but there’s no alcohol?” Eren asked, confused, after Armin ordered butterbeer. 

“Yeah, I’m surprised that you’ve never had it before.” Eren rolled his eyes. 

“I’m from Germany. If a drink is even remotely related to the word ‘beer’ then it’s got alcohol.” Eren said with a shrug. 

“Okay, fair enough.” Armin laughed. 

“But we do have butterbeer.” Eren said. “I just don’t know how similar it is to your version.” 

“Well, you’ll find out soon enough.” Armin said with a smile. 

“So,” Eren started, “The plan that you mentioned at the beginning of the year, what’ve you done with that?” 

“I’ve adjusted it some.” Armin admitted. “Some tweaking here and there to allow for various life events.” 

“But you’re still trying to keep with it?” he asked. 

“Yeah, I’m just scared not too. My parents didn’t know where they were going and they ended up broke while trying to raise me. My dad was taking my mother to a job interview when they were killed in an accident. It wouldn’t have happened if they’d had their lives put together.” Armin said sadly. “Because of that I was raised by my grandfather and have absolutely no memories of my parents.” 

“I doubt it was their fault.” Eren said. 

“Well if they’d had their shit together I wouldn’t have so many questions.” Armin replied darkly. Eren took Armin’s hand and squeezed. 

“You really shouldn’t talk so badly about your parents.” He said. “I’d hate for you to tinge the few memories you have of them..” 

“But your mom died in a blizzard! You should understand! Aren’t you mad that she was stupid enough to go out in it?” Eren shrugged. 

“At first. But that was just after I lost her. At the time we didn’t realize how quickly it was moving, and she thought that she’d be okay. It came up and that was that. I could never hate her for it.” He replied softly. They sat in an awkward silence until their drinks came. 

“Listen, I didn’t mean-” Armin started, but Eren shook his head to cut him off. 

“It’s not that big of a deal. You didn’t know.” He said with a small smile. “I just want you to try and look at it from their angle. Maybe talk to your grandfather about it and see what might have been going through their heads.” Armin nodded. 

“Okay, I guess I can do that.” he replied softly. Eren smiled as their drinks arrived and the waiter left again. He took a sip and wrinkled his face. 

“Christ, that’s sweet.” he gasped. Armin laughed. 

“Now I’m scared to drink the German version.” he replied, making Eren smile.


	11. Dance Lessons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It may look it but I swear I don't mean to wait a month between updates. Anyway, have some stupid stuff.

The following Monday the Yule Ball was announced and the students were sent into a frenzy. Only seventh years were allowed to attend alone, anyone else had to be invited by an older student, so sixth and fifth years from Hogwarts began devising ways to ask an older student or get noticed so that they would be asked instead. 

Armin didn’t want anything to do with it. To him it just seemed like wasted time spinning around a dance floor. He voiced his opinion to Eren after twin Slytherin fifth years asked the boys if they would take them to the ball. 

“I mean, they have O.W.L.’s this year, they need to be getting ready!” he said, motioning to the disheartened girls. 

“It’s a way to get your mind off of your studies, and it’s over Christmas so they probably wouldn’t have been studying anyway.” Eren pointed out. Armin shrugged. 

“I don’t plan on going. I’ll spend the morning with you and everyone but I refuse to spend unnecessary galleons on dress robes and waste time sitting around.” he replied. 

“You don’t have a choice.” said someone from behind him. They looked over to see the divination teacher, Hange, walking past them. “The seventh years in Slytherin are required to attend since they champion is from that house.” Eren tried not to laugh while Armin stared at the professor. 

“Wha- I- but-” he stammered. 

“Looks like you don’t have much of a choice.” Eren said behind his hand, hiding the smile. 

“Fuck me.” Armin groaned, running his hands through his hair. 

“I’d love to.” Eren replied, causing Armin’s face turn a bright shade of red. 

 

That evening in the common room, Annie snatched his notes out of his hands to get his attention. 

“Please, I’m begging you, be my date to the Ball. I have to have a partner so that I can open the damn thing with the other champions and I keep getting asked by stupid horny underclassmen.” He looked up at her. 

“I can’t dance, you know that I can’t.” he pointed out. 

“I don’t give a flying thestral fuck.” she replied. “I just want to make sure I don’t have to accept someone annoying at the last second.” 

“I don’t know, Eren might ask me to go.” he said, trying to see how far she would go. 

“He may ask for the rest of the ball, but for the opening dance he’s got to have a female partner or else his instructors will have a shit fit. Ymir told me so.” Annie countered. Armin shrugged. 

“Maybe I want to go alone. Just sit on the side and read books.” 

“Please!” Annie begged. “I don’t want to dance with someone that’s constantly staring at my tits!” Armin sighed. 

“Fine. I’ll go with you. But only if you keep away the girls from Slytherin away from Eren. I know they’ll try and use him for some shit.” he replied. 

“Deal. I’ll spread the word that anyone that tries to pressure him into going with her will end up catching a Bat Bogey Hex.” she said with a wink. Armin smiled. 

“Thanks.” 

The next morning Armin walked up to the table to find that Eren, Historia, and Ymir were having a very intense conversation in German. He squeezed Eren’s shoulder as he passed and started talking to Jean, who was more than a little heartbroken that Mikasa had decided to go home for the holiday instead of staying for the ball. 

“FUCK BOTH OF YOU!” Ymir yelled before storming out of the hall. Historia sighed and apologized before leaving. 

“What was that about?” Annie asked. Eren smiled. 

“We just convinced her to go with me to the ball. She’s not very happy about it as you could see.” he replied sheepishly. 

“And it took Historia to convince her?” Armin asked. 

“Yeah, she got the ten galleons to me so I didn’t have anything to help with convincing her. So I asked Historia and she convinced her to go.” He said with a grin. “Historia has Ymir wrapped around her fucking finger.” 

Armi’s eyebrows rose. “Wow, I’m surprised you wanted to go with her. There are girls from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff that would’ve had better tempers.” he pointed out. 

“Well, she’ll eventually figure out it’s for her own good. Headmaster Smith would have found a way to shove her and someone else with good lineage together hoping they would hit it off and in a few years he could boast about having their child in his school. He’s very persistent like that.” 

“And he wouldn’t do the same for you?” Annie asked. 

“He would. That’s why I asked Ymir before he could do anything.” Eren replied. Armin smiled and shook his head. 

“So, he does realize that she’s totally not interested in dudes right?” Jean asked. 

“Yeah. That’s not going to stop him.” Eren said. “He’s been trying to force it on all of his valuable students, no matter their preference.” They all rolled their eyes and went back to their food. 

A few minutes later it was announced that the seventh years from Slytherin as well as the students from the other schools were to stay in the hall for a dance lesson. Armin groaned and cupped his face in his hands as he realized how far behind he was going to get because of it. Eren smiled and rubbed his back while the teachers said that any other interested students could stay as well. 

“It’ll be fine.” He said, “It’s not going to be that big of a problem.” 

“No it won’t.” Armin groaned. Eren exchanged an eye roll with Annie. 

Historia dragged Ymir into the hall just in time for the lesson, and ran over to stand by the other two champions while the professors talked about posture and how to lead in a dance. 

“Have you danced before Armin?” Historia asked. 

“My Aunt thought if I learned how to dance then it would turn me gay so I never learned.” He replied. She laughed. 

“Well, stick with me for the first part. I took lessons until last summer.” 

“But I said I’d go with Annie..” he said lamely. Historia leaned across him and tapped on Annie’s arm. 

“I’m stealing your date for the lesson so I can break him in for you.” she said with a sweet smile. Annie shrugged and strong armed Jean into dancing with her. 

“Are you sure?” He asked. “I'm probably going to step on your toes.” Historia shrugged. 

“I'm used to it. Occasionally my dance partners at lessons are newbies and they step on toes too.” She replied. “If you step on my toes it won't be that big of a deal.”

He sighed and watched as the headmistress from Beauxbatons danced with her transfiguration teacher so that the students had an example of how they needed to look. 

And then his idea of hell began. The circular motion of the dance was making him slightly sick, and he couldn’t quite get the rhythm right. One of the dances had a part where the boys were supposed to lift their partners into the air, and he just barely managed to get Historia off the ground. Top it off with the smell of a few hundred sweaty teenagers and he was ready to run to the lavatory and vomit from the stench and the stress. 

So naturally he was ecstatic when they were released just before lunch and he was able to run outside and breath in the cold fresh air. 

Eren came up behind him amoment later and wrapped his cloak around Armin’s shoulders so that he wouldn’t get too cold. 

“You were pretty good out there.” He said softly. “Better than you let on to Historia.” Armin shook his head. 

“No I wasn’t. I was messing up left and right.” 

“I’m not saying you were perfect, but you were pretty good for someone that’s never danced before.” 

“Thanks.” Armin leaned into Eren’s side. “I don’t think I’ll be able to make it through the ball.” He muttered. 

“You’ll be fine. After the first dance you’re free to do as you please.” Eren reminded him. “So you can just sit in the corner and talk to whoever until after they serve the food.” 

“I don’t want to dance in front of so many people, not as bad as I was.” 

“Then you shouldn’t have agreed to go with Annie.” 

“Do you think it’s too late to back out?” Armin asked. “Maybe I can convince her to let me go alone.” 

“And then Historia would ask you to go. She doesn’t have a partner yet.” Eren gave him a quick one armed hug. “Just soldier through.” 

They stood out on the grounds for a little while longer before Armin finally said. “Historia would be a better option. At least I’ll look like I know what I’m doing.” 

“That seems like a fair option.” Eren laughed.


	12. Yule Ball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so incredibly sorry. I didn't mean for it to take this long to post again. I got really busy with my novel (which I finished last october by the way) and then a bunch of shit happened and I didn't write for like two months, annd then another thing and I just forgot about AO3 all together. But I'll be updating, I swear.

Historia and Annie agreed to the switch and Annie bullied Jean into going with her. Historia helped Armin practice in a little empty classroom on the first floor while Annie and Eren watched with amusement. 

Eventually Christmas Day rolled round and Armin dragged Jean out of bed to the Christmas feast. Eren met them in the main hall wearing blue jeans and a worn leather jacket with his hair up in a not again. His appearance made Armin, and by default Jean whose arm he still held, stop in his tracks. 

“I thought you weren’t allowed to wear regular clothes?” Armin asked, feeling his cheeks flush. 

“Smith allows it on holidays.” Eren replied with a smile and a shrug. Armin let go of jean, who gave him a knowing smile, and walked over to Eren. 

“You look good.” He mumbled, putting an even bigger smile on Eren’s face. 

“Thanks, you look good too.” They started walking towards the feast hall but when Armin tried to take Eren’s hand, Eren shoved it into his jacket pocket. 

“I’m sorry, but Smith was in the doorway.” Eren explained apologetically, “He keeps in contact with my dad and if my dad ever finds out-” 

“Your dad doesn’t know you’re into guys?” Armin asked. 

“My dad is, i know there’s a word in english for it but I can’t remember, he hates people like us.” He sighed. “Ymir’s mom knows about both of us and doesn’t care. But if dad found out he would go absolutely insane.” The smile had been wiped off of Eren’s face. 

“How about the rest of your schoolmates? Would they tell him?” Armin asked, remembering Eren being affectionate in front of them. 

“I’m on decent terms with most of them and the rest know that if they were to tell, they would be in a world of hurt because of everyone else.” He explained. “I probably wouldn’t have to even say anything to them either.” 

That threw Eren in a new light for Armin. 

Eren had summed up his relationship with his father as “not good” and refused to talk any further than that. He’d loved his mom to pieces, and didn’t really have many friends. All this was stuff he’d learned since they had started dating him. 

It was obvious that ERen’s father had been bad before Eren realized that he was one of the people his father couldn’t stand, but Armin had to wonder what it was like going home every summer to deal with someone that hated you. His family wasn’t that bad, his aunt looked down at him and his cousins thought that there was something odd about him. But when he’d announced he was into guys they all just sort of wrote it off. 

But something else was funny about what Eren had said. Eren had insisted that Armin and Ymir were the closest things he’d had to real friends, but if half of the school- if not more- was willing to beat up anyone that told Smith about him then he had more friends than he realized. 

When they got to the table and Ymir took her place on Eren’s other side, Armin slipped his hand into Eren’s under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze. Eren smiled at him before gently removing his hand so that he could use it to get food. 

 

The feast finished and everyone took their haul from the Christmas Crackers to their rooms before beginning to get ready for the Yule Ball. 

Armin dumped his prizes on his bed, where a little white box with a red ribbon greeted him. He picked it up and flipped it over to look for a tag, but found one that only had his name on it. The handwriting was cramped and a little rushed, but not familiar to him at all. He opened the box and pulled out a miniature figure of a Black Forest Horse. He smiled as it came to life and shook it’s main before prancing around on his palm. 

He put it on his bedside table and watched it run around and smell everything before prancing back to the corner and rearing, where it froze for a moment. 

“Oh that’s cool.” Said Jean, who happened to be watching, “Is that from Eren?” He asked. 

“Don’t know. I’ve never seen anything he’s written, actually.” Armin replied, showing the box to Jean. 

“Well don’t expect me to recognize the handwriting.” He laughed. “But don’t you think it’s kind of narcissistic to send you a mini-him?”

“I’ve already said that I love his Animagus form.” Armin replied, “This would just be the equivalent of giving me a picture of him.” Jean shrugged. 

“Well either way we should probably try and commandeer the showers. We’re going to be representing Slytherin after all, we need to look good. Might have to ask one of the girls to come and help with hair though.” 

Armin followed Jean’s lead and fought for a shower stall so that he could get clean. 

One of the sixth year girls that didn’t want to go home or go to the ball volunteered to help them with their hair and did a weird little braid thing with Armin’s so that it would stay out of his face. He hoped Eren wouldn’t laugh at him too hard later. Annie greeted them in a form fitting silver dress with green lacing in the pattern of a snake curled around her torso and similarly fashioned sleeves with her hair up in an elegant version of her usual bun. She grabbed both boys, both wearing black dress robes, and dragged them upstairs to where the school heads were waiting to check over their students. 

Kuchel made Annie do a spin before okaying her, but scrutinized the boys and used a spell to remove the lint from Jean’s dress robes. Historia came in next wearing a blue ball gown that Armin thought looked quite a bit like Cinderella’s gown, with her hair done in perfect ringlets. Petra also made her spin and gave her the okay. 

“Hello Cinderella.” He teased when she got closer. She stuck out her tongue at him. 

“I liked the dress so when I was told we were having a ball this year I made one like it.” She replied, Annie and Armin’s jaws dropped. 

“You made that?” Annie asked, Historia replied with a bright smile. 

“Yeah, I have a knack for making clothes.” She replied. Armin would have replied, but the Durmstrang kids started to pile in and he started scanning the crowd. Ymir came in first wearing a black lace dress that only reached as far as her knees, lacy gold sandals and gold beads twisted into her hair. Eren came behind with another group of boys, and nearly made Armin’s heart stop. 

Obviously one of the girls had gotten their hands on him because he had an almost Thor-like hairstyle that draped around his face with braids and twists. And he was wearing what must have been Durmstrang formal wear because all of the other boys were wearing it as well. 

Armin had to look away as Eren was inspected by his headmaster so that he could catch his breath. The group was pulled together to run through the evening and then sent to line up near the doors. Historia turned to give her miserable girlfriend a smile. 

“Oh come now dear, give us a smile, you look so angry.” 

“Caroline neary yanked out my hair and Irma caught my eye with the mascara brush, I am angry.” Ymir snapped. Eren laughed. 

“What did you do to piss off Caroline? She was gentle with my hair.” 

“That’s because she’s got the hots for you and wants to be nice to you incase this shit goes south.” She motioned between him and Armin. 

“But Helen said that she had a thing for you. Maybe she’s just angry she didn’t get to you before Historia.” Eren said with a laugh. Ymir opened her mouth and then closed it again. 

“Did you ever think that maybe both are true?” Annie asked. “You can have two crushes at the same time.” The Durmstrangs conceded the point. 

“ERen,” Armin said, remembering the figure on his night stand, “Did you send me the box with the minature horse?” He asked. Eren shook his head. 

“The owl with your gift arrived right before we left.” Ymir frowned. 

“Did I not put my name on the box?” She asked. 

“IT was from you?” Armin asked, shocked. She nodded. Eren elbowed her. 

“I was wondering why you were asking about that.” She stuck her tongue out at him as he explained, “A little while back she asked if she could watch me run around in animagus form.” 

“I like to make those and animate them in my spare time.” Ymir explained. “So I thought you’d appreciate that one.” Armin smiled and gave her a one armed hug, which caught her off guard. 

“That’s really sweet of you.” Armin said. 

“I’m actually kind of jealous, she’s never made one for me.” Eren said pointedly. 

“I never know what to make for you.” She replied with a shrug. 

“She made me a unicorn.” Historia said to Armin, “It’s absolutely beautiful, I’ll show it to you later.” 

“Wow Ymir,” Eren teased, “I’ve known you for years and you’ve never made me o-” 

“Then tell me what you want!” She barked. 

“Remember the dog I had when we started school?” 

“Fine, in I make it will you please leave me alone?” She asked. 

“Maybe.” He replied. She rolled her eyes and started mumbling what Armin guessed were curses in Bulgarian. 

Once the students staff and reporters were inside, the school heads and the champions lined up in front of the door and were allowed to go in one by one. Everybody was clapping and cheering them as they walked through, and Armin was almost blinded by a camera flash as he and Historia reached the dance floor. 

He got really nervous as each of the champions face their partners. It was bad enough to dance in front of the entire school, but there were reporters there that would definitely document if he fell on his face while dancing with the Beauxbatons champion. However the dance was a simple one, and Historia made him look like he knew what he was doing. Eren and Ymir were definitely the better dancing pair, most likely having already taken dance lessons together. 

Jean and Annie unfortunately looked the worse. Jean had two left feet and kept stepping on Annie's toes. Thankfully Historia’s headmistress took pity on them and took Levi onto the floor to dance with them. Once she was there, all eyes were on them, as they were dancing marvelously, far better even than Eren and Ymir. Nanaba and Mike soon followed, and then other students started to join. Historia insisted on staying until the song ended before releasing Armin to go sit on the sidelines. 

He ran over to the table claimed for the champions and their dates and pulled a roll of parchment and quill out of his inner pocket. He had an essay due for Binns and he needed to get it done so that he could work on his astronomy map when he got back to the common room. 

A while later Eren left the dance floor and sat down next to him. “Homework? Really Armin? Relax a little bit.” 

“I can’t fall behind.” Armin replied, scanning back through his essay. 

“So this couldn’t have waited?” 

“I have other assignments that I’ve put off long enough.” Armin replied. “You have to remember how many classes i'm taking.” Eren sighed. 

“Knowing you, they’ll all be done before they're due, even if you take a couple hours to sit and relax right now.” Eren replied. Armin looked up. 

“If I take any time right now to sit and relax then I lose time to spend with you outside of this.” Eren sighed. 

“Fine, go on.” Armin nodded, not hearing the disappointment in ERen’s voice he registered Eren getting up a little while later, but didn’t say anything. 

Kuchel watched as her children danced with various partners. Levi and Petra didn’t seem to find any need to stop dancing, or to find someone else to dance with. They just kept going around the floor talking and smiling at each other, and Kuchel spared a moment to think that she may get grandchildren after all. Nananana, who was just this side of giving birth, had chosen to sit down and rest her swollen ankles and allow Isabel to dance with Mike for a little while. Thankfully Mike had realized how important this ball was because he’d slicked his hair back out of his face for the night. Farlan was being himself, and would go between sitting and reading, and dancing with the occasional young woman that asked him. 

She scanned the room and saw Armin working away and frowned a bit. The durmstrang champion kept giving him longing looks from where he danced with a classmate. She’d heard from Hange that the two of them were rather close, and her heart went out to the Champion. Kuchel stood up and walked over. 

“You realize you’re representing our school right?” She asked softly in his ear, making him jump. He looked up at her with an embarrassed smile. 

“Yes ma’am?” He replied. 

“Why aren’t you out dancing with your date?” She prodded. He glanced at the parchment in front of him. 

“I’m behind on my essay because of christmas and everything.” He said. 

“Sweetheart, your grades are good enough, nearly perfect, you can afford to turn an essay in late. And it looks as if you’ve already surpassed his length requirement. You can wrap it up when you get back to your common room. For now go dance with your friends.” She said, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“I-” 

“Young man go with your friends or I’m going to give you detention for thinking schoolwork is more important than making Hogwarts look good.” She said with a sickly sweet smile. He blanched and let his parchment roll back up. “Good lad.” 

Armin watched her go as he shoved his quill and ink bottle into his robes. She could be scarier than a dementor if the mood struck her, he thought. 

He walked over to the dance floor, which was being vacated by the older teachers as the band started playing songs geared towards the students. Ymir, whose partner had just left her, spotted him, ran over, and dragged him onto the dancefloor. Eren spotted her dancing with him and began smiling again. Historia, who had been dancing with him, smiled as well and suggested that they make their way over to them. 

Despite himself, Armin started to have fun as he danced with his group of friends. 

Seeing her three school representatives interacting with those from the other schools, Kuchel smiled. While she was mostly happy that her students were making friends, she was also rather happy that the press would see that the Beauxbatons champion had chosen to take one of her students. 

Eventually they all got hungry and moved to the table to order their dinner. 

“It’s nice to see the champions all getting along.” Petra said, glancing over fondly. 

“It is,” Kuchel replied, “As far as I can tell, most competitors get a little too serious about this competition and forget it’s really just an oversized inter school game.” Petra laughed. 

“Except your daughter. I was competing with her and she seemed to be in it for the fun.” Most of the staff did a double take. 

“You were a champion?” Nanaba asked, while Levi kept looking between Petra and his little sister, who he’d taught for a couple years. Kuchel thought that he must not have realized how young she was. 

“More importantly,” Erwin interjected, “You’ve only been out of school for five years?” 

“Yes and yes.” Petra replied. 

“Petra won second place five years ago, I believe you only lost to Isabel by a point, right?” Kuchel asked. Petra nodded. 

“Unfortunately. My classmates kept saying “if only you hadn’t tripped into the poison ivy,” as if I wasn’t already mortified by face planting in front of god and everyone.” She sighed. 

“I’m sorry dear, but I didn’t really remember you.” Mike said as Levi and Farlan had a silent conversation. 

“Well, I was rather acne covered my last year. The stress really got to me. And I was paying more attention to the tasks than to my appearance for the most part. Something that Historia has managed wonderfully, by the way. Or maybe she just has better genes than I do.” Petra sighed. 

“So why were you chosen if you’ve barely been out of school?” Erwin asked. Petra shrugged. 

“The board probably wanted to say that they had a Champion as headmistress.” She replied. “I don’t know, all I know is that there are plenty of teachers that were not happy. Especially when I picked out the students to go with me.” 

“How did you choose?” Kuchel asked. 

“Well I was a potions professor last year, and I knew most of these kids after being a prefect at school and being there as a sort of big sister. So I knew their attitudes and chose those with the best.” 

“So you didn’t bring your top students?” Erwin laughed. Petra smiled back coldly. 

“Everyone has their own idea of “good, better, best” Mr. Smith. You chose students with good lineage. I’m sure that Kuchel would have brought her highest achieving students. I decided that there’s no need taking a young man or woman that has a “holier than thou” attitude. That’s not who I want representing Beauxbatons. I want them to see the kids that always have a smile, always take a challenge in stride, that put others before themselves.” She replied. 

“And how many of them are actually from wizarding families?” Erwin asked. 

“Not many, but I would rather take someone with a good sense of humor over someone who’s hanging on the coattails of his father’s legacy.” Petra snapped, “Your champion wasn’t chosen because of his father but because of what he choose to make himself. Ms. Leonhart isn’t a champion because her father’s a dueling legend, but because she’s made something of herself. Historia definitly wasn’t chosen for lineage, she’s got none. Muggle as hell through and through, youngest of six muggle kids and yet she’s made herself a wonderful witch. And Isabel didn’t win because her family were aurors. It’s not about where you’re from you dumb sack of shit.” Petra pushed herself away and marched down onto the dance floor. 

“Way to go Erwin.” Levi said, “I didn’t even think she could act like that.” 

Kuchel sighed, “You’ve pushed her buttons and gotten what you deserve. Muggleborns don’t care about other people’s bloodlines.” 

“She’s a-” 

“Say it and I’ll turn you into the pig you already are.” Kuchel snapped. That shut him up. But apparently something else had caught her attention. 

“Is something wrong?” Levi asked, somewhat amused. 

“I think I just saw my champion kiss that little mud- muggleborn boy.” Erwin corrected himself before he ended up on the receiving end of a possibly permanent transfiguration spell. 

“It’s nothing.” Hange interjected from Farlan’s other side. “they’re all excited and in the mood of the party, if he did kiss him he’s probably just getting carried away with the spirit of everything.” 

“I can’t have rumors going around-” 

“Oh hush, they’ve been dancing with the girls all night long I don’t think that there’s any need to worry about it. If anything gets spread just say someone slipped rum in the butterbeer.” 

“Did they?” 

“Knowing my students I wouldn’t be shocked.” Kuchel sighed. 

“Ooh, you two watch out, smith’s watching.” Ymir said through a bite of bread. 

“Ah fuck him.” Jean said, “Let the old fart deal with it.” ERen glanced nervously over his shoulder. 

“I hope he didn’t see.” He said softly. 

“It’s fine sweetheart, I’m sure he didn’t see anything.” Armin replied, making ERen laugh. 

“Did you seriously just call me ‘sweetheart?’” He asked. 

“Maybe? I’m not sure.” Armin laughed, which made Eren laugh in turn. 

At the end of the night, Eren pulled Armin behind one of the suits of armor to give him a kiss goodnight out of sight of his headmaster. 

Armin went back to his dorm room and fell asleep on his essay, which he forgot about until the next morning.


	13. Minor Heartbreak

Unfortunately for Eren, all quality time with Armin was cut down so that he could catch up on coursework, leaving the poor boy to sit and watch. 

The day before school started back everyone was gathered for lunch. Partway through the entire Durmstrang group went quiet and started staring at the doors. Armin turned to see what everyone was looking at and saw a tall brown haired man in healer’s robes standing there. Headmaster Smith walked down and started conversing with the man while Levi ran down to see the stranger. 

“Yeager!” Smith called. Armin felt Eren tense up next to him. 

“I’m sorry, but visitors are only allowed on our school grounds in the case of an emergency.” They could hear Levi say as he entire room had gone quiet. 

“I’ll be with them so don’t get your robes in a bunch.” 

“That’s not the problem. We can’t have parents coming around thinking they can visit their kids. Whatever they have to discuss can wait until February's Hogsmeade trip.” Levi replied. 

“Oh bugger off, he’s the only one. And we’ll be in our castle, _Yeager_!” Smith snapped. Eren reluctantly got up and walked over to the visitor and headmaster. The bunch all walked off, but it took a while before anyone started talking again. Levi looked back at the teacher’s table, then walked off after the group. 

“What was that?” Armin asked Ymir. 

“Eren’s dad.” She said softly. “The last time he came to the school Eren hid in his room for the weekend.” Armin felt his heart drop. 

“What happened?” 

“Don’t know, he still won’t talk about it.” Ymir replied, stirring her stew, “But I get the feeling we won’t see him for the rest of the day.” 

Armin couldn’t seem to get his mind back on his work, so he pulled some fluff out of nowhere to finish out the essay for herbology and let it go. 

 

As Ymir predicted, none of them saw Eren until the next morning at breakfast, and his smile was too forced to deny anything had happened. But not even Armin could get out of him what his father had said or done. 

That evening at dinner, Kuchel announced that the next task would occur on the twenty second. “Can you help me with spells?” He heard Annie ask him. He didn’t hear Eren say the same thing even quieter. 

“I need to take care of my homework first.” He replied to Annie, and she took it in stride. Eren, however, sort of deflated. Armin felt his shoulders slump forward and turned to look at him. 

“Are you alright?” 

“I’m fine.” Eren replied. Armin doubted it, but left it alone. Ymir tried to catch Eren’s eyes, but couldn’t get him to do so much as look up from his plate. 

On their way back to the castle she asked, “Okay, seriously, what’s turned you into a wilted petal?” Eren sighed. 

“It’s just that, I feel like he puts homework in front of anything.” 

“No offense but I think we could all take a page out of that book.” Ymir said, bringing a small smile to Eren’s lips for a second. 

“But, he would rather take care of his essays than be with his friends.” 

“He’s a muggle-born. He’s going to struggle unless he’s really good, you know that. He’s got to work his ass off.” 

“But he never takes a break.” 

“I know, but this isn’t you can expect him to change overnight, or even over a couple months. Especially not right now. This year decides everything for him. If he slacks off now then that’s it.” Ymir said, trying not to sound like she was taking his side too much. “Let him do his thing, and when he gets free time, spend it with him.” 

“Easier said than done.” Eren grumbled. 

 

Armin was able to pull a couple all nighters to finish his work so that he could commandeer a classroom that saturday to help Annie with her spells. He went up to Eren on the grounds Friday and plopped down next to him. 

“I’m going to be helping Annie this weekend, you want to be there too?” He asked. Eren thought it over for a bit. 

“I don’t want to get in the way of another champion, I’ll just bully Ymir into helping me.” He replied. Armin nodded, and they sat together for a little while, not really saying anything. 

“I think Jean’s falling behind, I’m going to go see what I can do to help.” Armin said, Eren nodded and watched armin get up and leave. 

 

They continued in a sort of rut like this, Eren staying a little withdrawn, and Armin a bit too into his work to notice that it wasn’t just nerves. Annie called off their practices after Armin fell asleep in the middle of a sentence and fell off the desk the second weekend. 

Eren finally decided to ask Armin for help again the week before the task, and was greeted with “I have a huge test in potions and I need to be ready.” That snapped something in him. 

“Can I see you behind the greenhouses later?” He asked. Armin started at the sudden request. 

“Yeah, sure.” Armin replied, stunned. They finished lunch and, at a distance, Armin followed Eren to the empty greenhouses 

“I think it’s time we call this off.” Eren said softly. Armin blinked, hoping that he’d heard incorrectly. 

“What?” He asked. 

“Obviously I’m just in the way of your stupid plan.” He replied, eyes on the ground, “You spend more time with your books and essays than you do with me, and I think we’d both be better off without it. You “have” to become the next minister of magic, and I need to focus on the rest of the tournament without worry about whether or not my dad’s going to come back and get mad at me because rumours started spreading that might tarnish our fucking family name.” 

“So this is about your dad, not me.” Armin said. 

“It’s about both!” Eren snapped. “When I do something that he thinks tarnishes the family honor or some shit like that, he comes to the school, and he turns me into a piece of shit. Not literally, he’s never uses a spell or anything, but he might as well. And I was willing to stay with you and risk that, but you keep shoving friends aside for classwork. And I’m not going to risk it if you aren’t willing to set time aside for me.” He said. Armin looked down, and tried to keep from shaking. 

“If that’s what you want.” He said calmly. Eren stormed off, and after a moment Armin slid to the floor and started crying.


	14. Time's Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that the updates are so far between, but I'm doing my best. 
> 
> Also, the title has no significance really. I just couldn't think of anything else.

“He didn’t deserve you anyway.” Jean said, and was met with a bat on the arm from Annie. She’d found Armin crying behind the greenhouses and helped him back to the common room, where he told them the whole story. 

“Listen,” Annie sighed, “All of the champions are stressed, and if his dad’s on his case then I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s even more stressed than me and Historia. Give him some time, he just needs to cool down. He knows what he’s lost and once his head’s in the right place he’ll be asking you to forgive him.” She said. 

“And if he doesn’t, then you’ll have your entire life to- Oww!” Jean shouted as Annie punched him. 

“What’s it matter?” Armin said, wiping away his tears, “I need to focus on school anyway. N.E.W.T.s are coming up and I need to be ready.” His two friends nodded and he went upstairs to get his stuff. 

The tiny horse was walking around on his nightstand and he felt his heart twist a little more, but he got out his things and went back downstairs. 

 

At dinner Eren sat at the very end of the table with some students from his school. Ymir, however, took her usual seat across from Armin. 

“He’s just stressed,” Ymir said softly, “give him some time.” 

“Exactly what I said.” Annie said, Though Armin wasn’t sure tow whom she had said it, “If she said it then listen to her, she knows him better than anyone else from what I can tell.” Ymir shrugged. 

“Eren doesn’t quite understand how people can be dedicated to every class. He’s the type that latches onto the ones that interests him most and half asses the rest. It’s why he’s already been scouted by, like, three Quidditch teams.” She said, “He’ll put his heart and soul into charms and quidditch practice, but not much else.” Jean’s eyes popped. 

“He’s been scouted for quidditch?” He asked. Ymir nodded. 

“It’s part of why him and his dad are on rocky footing. Grisha wants him to become a healer when the boy can’t even brew a basic wart remedy.” She explained, “He doesn’t want to have an athlete in the family, apparently.” 

“What position?” Jean pushed. 

“Chaser.” Ymir said shortly, “Listen, Armin, just give him some time, he’ll realize he screwed up.” Armin shrugged and looked back down at his plate. 

 

The week went by, and Armin tried to stay focussed on classes, though Eren occasionally made his way into his mind. 

The day of the task came around and Annie still had no idea what was happening. And neither did the other two champions. 

“Petra said that Ackerman made Smith make an unbreakable vow not to tell Eren about the rest of the tasks.” Historia told the other two champions in the tent that morning, “They wanted us all to truly not know what was coming.” 

“Great.” Annie sighed. 

“I thought he was just quiet because he was mad at me.” Eren said, “There’s a first.” They remained quiet for a while before Annie started the conversation back up. 

“You own Armin an apology,” She said, “I know you’re stressed, but don’t take it out on him.” 

“Do we really have to have this conversation right now?” He asked. 

“You avoid us the rest of the time, so yeah.” 

“I’ve got a lot on my plate, if he can put down his books for two minutes so that I can say something to him then I will. But it doesn’t look like he plans on doing that anytime soon. 

“If you didn’t want to date someone who put school first, you shouldn’t have planted the idea in his head in the first place. You knew what he was like when you started dating, you shouldn’t expect anything else.” Annie huffed. Eren looked away from her. 

“He could have still made some time for-” 

“He makes time as best he can. This is him making time. Maybe it’s not like you putting aside five hours, but he does his best.” 

“Okay can we not do this?” Historia snapped, “I know you two have a beef with the other, but you need to stop. We have to focus on the task.” Annie and Eren glared at each other, but stopped talking. 

 

Armin and Jean sat with Ymir, staring out over the quidditch field. The sides had been reinforced with stone so that the dragon in the center couldn’t break the stadium. Thankfully the seating was high enough off the ground that the chained dragon couldn’t reach the audience. 

They could see three sparling somethings in the area around the dragon, but they hadn’t been told anything yet. 

“Isabel’s setting up brooms.” Jean said, pointing to a tower where the tournament officials sat. Sure enough there was a bright haired figure tossing brooms in the air for the champions to use. 

“Eren’s going to have an edge. Unless Historia is some sort of flying prodigy.” Ymir said. 

“Annie’s going to suck at this one, she can’t fly to save her life.” Jean said with a laugh. 

“I think you’re not giving her enough credit.” Armin replied. The audience began to roar as Farlan brought the three champions out onto the tower, and allowed them to get a look at the task. 

The champions looked between the brooms and the dragon and had varied reactions. Historia’s face drained of color, Eren grinned, and Annie yelled, “ _Oh fuck me._ ” Loud enough for a good portion of the students to hear. 

Once the laughter subsided, the minister announced the task.

“The goal of this task is to retrieve three of the crystals below without being caught by the dragon. Each of the crystals is a key to unlocking your way to the final task. You will have one hour to retrieve your crystals. I would highly suggest removing your cloaks before going in.” The cheering came from the different schools as the girls removed their school robes, leaving each in only their school uniform. 

Armin felt for Historia, it was cold out and she wore the dress that was standard for Beauxbatons and didn’t look the least bit warm, while Annie at least had thick socks and a sweater. 

Eren confidently jumped off the edge, grabbed the broom and effortlessly pulled himself up and over it. This display was awarded by a roar of applause and cheers from nearly every female in the arena. Annie and Historia approached it a little more carefully. Historia quickly walked from the edge of the tower and over her broom as if it were a tight rope before slowly kneeling down and getting into position. 

Annie however, grabbed her broom by the bristles, pulled it into the tower, and mounted it there before gliding out to sit beside Historia. 

“I’m beginning to think she was the only smart one.” Jean cackled. Ymir nodded her agreement. 

“Your hour begins now!”


End file.
